Got a rotten neighbor? Let the world know

After finding that sweet apartment/house/condo and you settle in to your new life, you start to notice things.  The honeymoon is over when you realize you've that 'one guy' for a neighbor and the ink's still wet on the contract you just signed.  Worry no more.  Simply visit rottenneighbor.com, type in your zipcode and read the tortured tales of neighbors feed up with each other.  Launched on July 29th it'll hopefully be a great resource to learn something about a neighborhood before you move-in.  They're all here:  Too many cars-in-the-yard guy, the cat lady, the pit-bull breeder, and even the inflatable holiday-lawn-ornament-family.  Collect them all!

This is hands down the most interesting take on a google-maps real estate mashups we've seen in quite awhile, and the Spokane entries are lacking.  So far we're up to only six entries (plus one in Medical Lake labled "neighborhood terror"), and the south side neighborhoods are woefully under represented.

Comments

[E.]

So this is like the modern day version of a high school slam book? I understand people wanting to know about the neighborhood they may live in, but I wonder what the slander implications might be..esp. if names and specific locations are used.

[what's wrong...]

for shame - talk to your neighbors for petes sake!

[InlandNWblog]

I personally thought there were enough ways to bash other people on the internet, but hey, who am I to judge? I will say I'm not entirely comfortable with the legality of this site. It becomes libel when it's published, folks, and libel is actionable under the law. With naptster and other companies being successfuly sued for privacy rights violations, anyone want to guess how long it takes before this site it sued? I have dibs on 30 days.

[RottenHere]

There will never be enough ^^ if I had rotten neighbors like these, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKckQ4REU7M I'd surely add them into the site...these people are a nuisance

[observer]

As someone who has a basic familiarity with libel law, I just wanted to add a quick point of clarification.

No one should feel threatened by the specter of libel litigation for writing about their neighbors' bad habits online.

While there are many nuances in the First Amendment law and Supreme Court decisions surrounding libel, truth has always been upheld as the ultimate defense.

If your neighbor has four cars on blocks in his front yard, for example, he won't win a libel judgement against you for describing the eyesore online.

In short, the laws have been written and interpreted so no one can be successfully sued for telling the truth.

Satire and opinion are also well protected in case law.

Even in a suit over published information that is not true, the plaintiff's arguments must overcome challenging legal tests to justify punishing someone for speech.

That said, I'd have to agree that the most effective speech in this case is often - though not always -a face to face conversation with the neighbor at issue.

[Kelley]

While all of this information is entertaining to read, it may not necessarily be precise. If neighbors are already at each others throats, what makes you think that they wouldn’t elaborate to make their rival neighbor seem evil?